had come in days past horde upon horde of
savage warriors, the scourge of God, the terror of the West, carrying
north and south, from Peking to Budapest, from the Volga to the Hugli,
their victorious banners. What was the land that bred such a race? What
of the Mongols nowadays? Even a few weeks would tell me something.

Having made up my mind to go, I set about learning the how and the
where, with the usual results; much advice asked and unasked of a very
contradictory sort. The American Legation with fine courtesy offered no
counsel, but gave every possible help, securing for me the proper vises
for my passports, even speeding the wheels of the slow-moving Wai-wu-pu
so that I might not be delayed. The matter of getting a servant proved
rather difficult. One who was proposed declined to go with a lady, for
he "would have to be braver than she"; others were daunted by the sound
of Mongolia; but finally, through the kind help of Captain Reeves, the
American military attache, I got hold of my invaluable Wang,
interpreter, cook, and general factotum in one, and faithfullest of
Chinese. Dr. Morrison, the famous _Times_ correspondent, gave me
much-needed encouragement at just the right moment. He had long hoped
to do it himself, he said, and of course I could do it; and speaking of
his own recent extended trip the length of Mongolia and Chinese
Turkestan, he flung out a remark which was very comforting to my soul:
Did I not hate to have people tell me that I could not do a thing, that
it was too difficult or too dangerous? If they would only stop with
giving you the facts as they knew them, and keep their opinions to
themselves. Well, I thought, if people dare to tell Dr. Morrison what he
can and cannot do, I must not mind if I am treated in the same way.

But I needed to take that comfort to my heart more than once in those
days. A request for some bit of information so often met with no facts,
but simply the stern remark that it was not a thing for a woman to do.
And when I did get precise statements they could not all be facts, they
were so very contradictory. I could go from Kalgan to Urga in eighteen
days; I must allow twenty-four or thirty; it usually took thirty days to
the railway; I must not expect to do it under forty-five. I must buy
ponies to cross from Kalgan; camels were the only thing to use; no
camels could be had in summer. Beyond Urga I must hire a droshky; the
only way to travel was by steamer; I could ne